Technical Field
The embodiments herein generally relate to wireless sensors, and more particularly to embedded wireless sensors for sports training and performance enhancement.
Description of the Related Art
Hitting a moving ball (e.g., baseball, softball, cricket ball, etc.) is a complex skill If the bat, which is used to hit the ball, makes contact with the ball there is an optimal location that transfers the maximum energy to the ball and produces little to no vibration at the handle of the bat. This optimal location is called the sweet spot. The sweet spot is present on all bats but varies in its size and location depending on the bat's material.
When an athlete is using a bat to make contact with the ball, the object is to hit the sweet spot so that the maximum momentum of the bat imparts the maximum kinetic energy to the ball. Whereas experienced athletes can feel when they have made contact either on, or close to, the sweet spot, people learning this skill usually do not know what this feels like. Although they can detect this sensation, having a device to give unqualified feedback would help the athlete make more consistent contact. For less skilled athletes, getting contemporaneous feedback on whether or not they are hitting the sweet spot is necessary information for improving performance.
Conventional means of training an athlete to hit the sweet spot generally consist of passive devices such as SKLZ's “Sweet Spot Bat”, MAPOWERED Baseball's “XACELLSIOR™ Color Change Bat”, PhoenixBats' “The Zone Wood Bat”, and The Starting Lineup's “Pro Hammer Training Bat”. Typically, to try to visualize if a player has made contact with the sweet spot, players have used tape or bats with thermochromic paint such as MAPOWERED Baseball's “XACELLSIOR™ Color Change Bat”.
SKLZ has a bat that has a wood barrel with a thinner metal component connecting to the handle. This bat helps the user make contact closer to the end of the bat but it is not exclusively the sweet spot and it does not feel like the athlete's own bat. The same can be said for PhoenixBats', “The Zone Wood Bat”, and The Starting Lineup's Pro “Hammer Training Bat”. Generally, all of these are training devices that do not allow the athlete to use their own bat, and therefore do not give the athlete precise feedback when they strike the ball on the sweet spot of their own bat(s).